Nineteen Years Later
by Swift tales
Summary: Spoilers for Deathly Hallows! George remembers and thinks on everything that's happened and how he's moved on in lifeDisclaimer: I do not own


Nineteen Years Later

George Weasly walks through Diagon Alley, whistling to himself and easily dodging tons of excited eleven year olds, who are buying their equipment for their first year at Hogwarts. He smiles indugently at the other children as well, older, but still excited, still bouncing on their feet and laughing gleefully.

He catches his reflection in a storewindow, imagines an ear where his own is missing and winks at Fred as he continues walking. He already can see their store up ahead, Weasly's Wizarding Wheezes. After all those years he still can't quite think of it as his shop, his alone Although Weasly's Wizarding Wheezes is more then just one shop now, its grown more popular then Zonko's, they have a store at Hogsmead and they have several other stores in foreign countries.

George still handles all the products himself, thinks them up, creates them and tests them, he does it all himself, occasionally looking at the mirror, imagining an extra ear and winking at his counter part. He misses Fred more then he ever imagined he'd miss anyone.

He remembers, a little time after everything had finished and Fred had gotten a funeral, remembers that he used to think it was so cruel, to give him back one brother only to steal the other one away from him on the same day. He doesn't think like that anymore, he's glad to have Percy back and he mourns that Fred didn't make it.

Percy, actually, is not quite so bad, Georgue musses as he walks by an elderly couple, bickering with eachother, although he'll never be Fred. Oh, his brother is still straight laced and particularly fond of rules, but he's much less uptight then he used to be. They actually work together now, Percy does the accounts and handles most of the legalities of Weasly's Wizarding Wheezes. It's handy to know someone who has such a firm grasp of the rules and thus, knows every loophole.

Fred would have approved, George knows, after all, the two made up before his beloved twin died.

At first, it felt like George had lost a limb. He'd turn around every minute of the day, expecting to see Fred grinning with his own face back at him. He can remember moments when he stopped talking, expecting Fred to finish his sentence and then unable to go on speaking when he realized that his twin was dead and not coming back and therefore, would never finish George's sentences ever again.

He would never look at Fred's face again and know, simply know with every fiber of his being, that the other was thinking the exact same thing he was thinking and then grinning at each other and turning to face their newly chosen target or victim.

He can still remember the time he cried out, 'I'm not George! He is!', and then turned his head, expecting to see Fred nodding vigorously beside him, saying something along the lines of: 'Still haven't learned how to tell us apart, have you?'. He can still remember the silence that fell and then his mother bursting into tears and hugging him tight.

He steps inside the store, waves at the blond haired witch behind the register, who smiles and gives him a nod in welcome. He moves through the rows of Puking Pastils and Tongue Tongue Toffees and steps through a door that says: Personel Only.

They still sell most of their old products, the one they sold at the beginning. It's an odd sort of salute to Fred, because the boxes of their old products now read: in memory of Fred Weasly. There are a lot of new products that George came up with on his own, yet, he thinks as he opens the door to his office, he still can't shake the feeling that every time he sits down to think up something new, Fred is looking over his shoulder, offering ideas and grinning gleefully and rubbing his hands together when they come up with something good.

He sits down in the chair behind the desk and simply looks at the cluttered desktop for a minute. A picture of him and Fred, in front of the store, when they first bought it, stands on the far corner and it was taken so long ago that George doesn't really know which one of the two he is.

Sometimes he likes to think that in reality he was the one named Fred and Fred was the one named George originally, but because their parents couldn't tell them apart when they were born they kept mixing them up and he accidentally ended up thinking he was George. It's a fun idea to entertain, and sometimes he uses it to drive his mother bonkers when he's visiting her and his dad back at the burrow.

He misses that place, the burrow. He remembers that during the first days after the war he'd refuse to come out of the room he and Fred had used to share, gazing at the bed that used to be Fred's and looking at all the stuff he'd left behind. He'd also refused to look in the mirror during those days, everthing had been far too painful.

But he'd pulled himself together in the end, Percy yelling at him from the other side of the locked door that he was being a prat, that starving himself wouldn't work, that their mother was beside herself with worry and finally, that Fred would turn around in his grave if he could see what George was doing. He'd kocked Percy one for that, but the older brother had shrugged and said: "Fair enough, I deserved it." And then he'd smiled.

Percy had really changed during the war.

George sighs, shakes of the sombre thoughts, it's by far a too beautiful day to be contemplating things like this. He shuffles some papers filled with barely readable notes, containing new ideas for new products and improvements for older products and he debates to himself for what kind of stuff he's in the mood for.

He grabbes a sheet containing an idea about an Instant-Insult-Quill and grabbs a quill from one his drawers, his mind already rumaging around with spells and enchantments and potions he might have to use.

When he straightens once again, he catches his reflection in the mirror hanging on the door, imagines an extra ear where his own is missing and winks at Fred.

Fin


End file.
